Living like an Ant in a Grasshopper world

Green Your Shopping Canada! Free President's Choice Green Bin!

April 21, 2009 By 6 Comments

President's Choice Green Bin We all know by now that using reusable shopping bags instead of plastic bags reduces environmental waste signifcantly. Here in Canada, President’s Choice, a line of products offered by many grocery stores operated by Loblaws, has some great green options to replace your shopping bags.

My favourite, the PC Green Bin, is a plastic bin that fits easily into shopping carts, has sturdy handles, and holds the equivelent of 3 to 5 plastic bags worth of groceries. It’s super easy to load from cart to car to house and the bins are inexpensive to buy at around $4.99 each.

As part of it’s efforts to promote the use of reusable bins, Loblaws grocery stores in Canada are offering  a coupon for a free PC Green bin with a purchase of $60 or more from April 22 to April 30. Please see coupon for details of which grocery chains are particpating.

PC Reusable BagThis week Fortino’s grocery stores in Ontario have been offering the President’s Choice reusable shopping bags for half price. Made with 85% post-consumer recycled plastic, our revolutionary shopping bag is twice the size of a standard plastic grocery bag and strong enough to withstand 50 trips to the store (about 1 full year).

With weekly use of just one bag, each person can divert approximately 100 plastic bags from ending up in landfill sites each year.

President's Choice Green CartNew from President’s Choice is their new PC Green cart. With the same capacity as three standard plastic grocery bags, this handy shopping bag on wheels does more than just carry a lot of groceries; it actually helps you do your part to protect the environment. The material used to make the fabric for this the bag comes from 100 % post-consumer recycled plastic.

By using this bag on wheels on a weekly basis, you will need approximately 300 fewer plastic bags per year – that’s less clutter in your cupboard and less plastic for you to throw out. The PC Green Cart will be available in stores beginning May 11, 2009 and is just one of the new Green shopping options that will be available on May 11th from President’s Choice.

For more information about these items and others offered by the President’s Choice brand in Canada take a look at the President’s Choice Green Insider’s Report.

And don’t forget to get your coupon for a FREE President’s Choice Green bin!

And you’ll want to enter to win the Earth Day Gift Package I’m giving away.  Contest is open until April 29, 2009 and anyone living in Canada and the United States is eligible (subject to contest rules). Good luck!

Filed Under: Canada, coupon, freebie, green living Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

8 Ways to Stick to a Frugal Holiday Gift Budget

December 4, 2008 By 2 Comments

The holiday season is the time of year when even the most frugalous of the frugal have difficulty sticking to budgets. Here are 8 ways to to stick to a frugal holiday gift budget without losing your marbles:

  1. Always shop with a list of names, spending limit, and ideas. Stick to your list and don’t be dazzled into impulse spending by store displays.
  2. Stick to your budget. If you’ve budgeted $25 for Cousin Joe and you can’t find a sweater under $30, move over to accessories and maybe grab him some gloves. If you go even $5 off your budget per person it will add up quickly!
  3. If you shop early in the season and discover later that an item you bought has been discounted, take it back to the store. As long as you have the receipt, chances are they’ll refund you the difference.
  4. Buy gift cards for the hard to shop for people in your life. Teens, grandparents, and even cranky uncles can always find a way to use the gift card in their favourite stores.
  5. If your budget is really tight this year, give a homemade gift like cookies or a gift of your time, such as volunteering to babysit or mow an elderly neighbour’s lawn.
  6. A family photo album or your family history on dvd is a great and invaluable present for a elderly, housebound or out of town relative
  7. For large or extended families put everyone’s name in a hate and have each family member draw a name and buy a gift for that one person.
  8. Limit your gift list. If you prefer not to exchange gifts with a friend, neighbour, or co-worker this year, just say so. It’s very likely that she’s trying to pare down her Christmas list too!
Filed Under: holiday Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Frugal Dilemma – Should I Buy a New Bed?

July 1, 2008 By 3 Comments

One of the challenges of moving from a house to an apartment is room size. The master bedroom in my house is large enough to accommodate my king size bed and other furniture. The bedroom I will have at the apartment is much smaller and my king size bed will not fit.

My neighbour has offered to buy the king size bed and I’m happy with this but now I have the question of a new bed. Here are my options:

  1. Buy a new queen size bed frame & mattress set that I really love – price will be around $3000
  2. Buy a new queen size bed frame & mattress set that will do for now but not really 100% my taste from Ikea or similar store – price will be around $1500
  3. Use an antique mahogany sleigh bed I’ve had since I was a child (and is currently not in use) and buying a double size mattress set that will fit it – price will be around $1000 (or less) for mattress set

I could talk myself into going with option #1 pretty easily. I’ve found a unique queen size bed that I really love and I could tell myself it’s an investment piece that will last me many years. I could also tell myself that the money my neighbour is paying for the king size bed will help pay for the bed. Then I could tell myself that, since I’m not really buying any new furnishings I really can afford this one little splurge. And finally I could tell myself that part of my new life without my husband I deserve the luxury of this new bed.

With option #2 things are a bit trickier. I don’t really love any of the beds in this price range. While having a queen sized bed would be nice when compared to the double bed in option #3 at the same time it seems a bigger waste of money to buy a less expensive bed that I don’t really love than to buy the more expensive one in option #1. I think option #2 can safely be eliminated now.

Option #3 is the most frugal option in the long run. It’s both frugal with my money and it’s frugal with my available space. The bed itself is an absolutely gorgeous mahogany sleighbed that’s around 200 years old. It’s a piece of furniture that has been in storage for a few years which really is a shame. The craftsmanship and beauty of it cannot be found in today’s modern furniture. However, it’s only a double size not a queen. The move from a king size bed to a double size bed is going to take some getting used to. And while it’s clearly smaller than a queen, the bed frame itself has a headboard nearly 5 ft tall and a foot board about 3 ft tall which creates a lot of visual clutter for me. My personal taste and style runs to contemporary in style and the heavy ornate feel of this antique is not in keeping with the rest of my furnishings.

Some quick info on sizes:

  • A Standard King size – 76 inches wide
  • A Standard Queen size – 60 inches wide
  • A Standard Double (also called Full) size – 54 inches wide

I’m stuck between options 1 and 3 now. I really don’t know what I should do. The frugal angel on my shoulder is telling me to go with option #3 but the devil shopper on my other shoulder is telling me to splurge just this once on option #1.

Update: I’ve decided to not just talk the frugal talk but to walk the frugal walk this time. I’m going with option #3. I’m going to use the antique sleigh bed which only requires me to purchase a full size mattress. The most frugal (and sensible) option.

You thought I’d cave in and go with option #1, didn’t you? Yeah, me too.

Update #2: This post was featured on edition #133 of the Festival of Frugality. Check it out. Lots of great frugal features there.

Filed Under: Frugal Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,